Mean Streets
by Crimson Flame-Blue Rose
Summary: Finding himself unable to sleep one night, Stefan embarks on a late night stroll to clear his head. Little did he know that the road he walked was a one-way street.


The air was cool on his face, the breeze that nipped at his ears reminded him of how grateful he was that he thought

to put on his jacket when he left his apartment.

The light of the moon that peeked out from behind the dark clouds cast an eerie glow on the streets he walked.

And, some reason, it made him feel small and insignificant.

It was rather late, a lot of people were probably at home all cozy in their warm beds and reading some book before

getting some shut eye.

As far as he knew, he was the only one out tonight.

He might've even felt a bit paranoid but he was too tired to care.

Stefan had this strange habit of walking alone at night if he was unable to fall asleep after work.

He couldn't remember exactly when the tradition came about, but once he started doing it, it just felt right.

He would walk for as long as he needed to until it became unbearable to walk anymore before he would turn around

and head home.

Thankfully, he didn't need to walk very much, the need only arose when he was working a particularly gruesome

case and was too keyed up to sleep.

Tonight, unfortunately, was one of those nights.

Stefan looked down at the concrete he walked on, watching his shadow as it slowly slithered along the ground under

his feet. The corner of his lips turned up in a half-smile as he recalled someone calling him a monkey when he was a

kid.

Things sure were different back then…

"Hey, pal, you got a light?" a man's voice called out.

Stefan paused in his step and looked up, spotting a man in a dark blue suit with pinstripes leaning against a

streetlight with his arms folded across his chest.

Well, he didn't see anyone else around, so he was probably talking to him.

He dug into his jacket pockets, his fingers brushing up against the paper box of his own pack of cigarettes and the

cool surface of his lighter, "Yeah, sure," he replied as he walked up to the shadowed figure.

Stefan's thumb flicked on the wheel of the lighter, holding it out to the other man once the wick lit.

He tried to get a better look at the man, but the top half of his face was obscured under the yellow glow of the light

pole by his hat, only able to get a glimpse of his lips, nose, and eyelashes as the flame kissed his cigarette.

A smoke did sound nice, maybe he'll light one up for himself and turn back now.

His legs sure felt ready to go home…

"Long night, huh?" he sighed as he reached back into his pocket for his own pack.

"Tell me about it," the other man snorted before blowing out a puff of smoke, "Thanks for the light, by the way."

Judging from his companion's voice, he really might want to cut back on the cigarettes, he sounded like he had

choked on a frog.

The thought made him chuckle.

"Not a problem, I'm just passing through," he mused as he smacked his hand on the bottom of the pack and pulled

out a cigarette before sticking it between his lips.

"You know, you're a good guy," the blue suited man stated matter-of-factly, "And it's too bad that I have to do this."

Stefan's sluggish mind snapped awake when he felt two hands grasp the lapels of his plaid jacket.

He tried to dig his heels into the ground and pull away but it all happened too fast.

He was thrown off the sidewalk and the last thing he registered before everything went dark was a bright light and a

tap on the head.

+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.

Since it's Noirvember, I've been watching quite a few noir movies to help inspire me to write more dramatic

L.A. Noire stories. And because of that, I was then inspired to draw up a noir drabble meme and took on requests.

This is the first drabble that I've written for Noirvember, I hope that this – and another story, which will be posted in

a little while – will make up for my absence, sorry for the wait!

Also, I think this touches base on that one LANoirekinkmeme prompt that asked for Stefan being put in a dangerous

position – harmed or killed – so this _might_ possibly be an answer to that, or I might write another one for it later.

I like this concept, and I'm inspired to rewrite it and make a longer version of the story – but it'll have to wait.

The ending here is intentionally left ambiguous, Stefan can die or survive.

Personally, though, I'm an optimist and a sucker for happy endings – and Stefan's my favorite, so…

Lin


End file.
